


its ok theyre just friends

by trees_so_thin



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: im not tagging this with anything because i dont want it to be found im just hosting it here., ok. never mind. its been long enough now that i am no longer embarrassed about it, remember when i was focused on this being purely platonic lollll what a relic. ok, this is for graduation so like. yeah.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:26:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24663814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trees_so_thin/pseuds/trees_so_thin
Summary: they are just friends bro. ok
Relationships: Argo Keene/Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	its ok theyre just friends

**Author's Note:**

> this makes no sense if you havent read the "comics" that precede this<3 no you cant have a link <3

“YOU KNOW YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY KISS WHEN YOU DO THAT RIGHT???”

Argo stood, slightly confused. Well, more confused than normal. Fitzroy grabbing him by the shoulders, his eyes glowing white, static crackling around him- was he okay? Did Argo do something wrong?  
“Whoa, cool down,” Argo said, trying to grab one of Fitz’s arms, but getting shocked instead and dropping his hand like he’d just gotten stung. “Are you-“  
“NO YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND,” Fitzroy panicked, the electricity swirling faster in the air as his anxiety rose. He looked around the courtyard, hoping to fantasy jesus that nobody could see this happening, and his hands closed in a vice grip around Argo’s shoulders. Fitzroy manoeuvred the genasi towards the shadow of a nearby tower, all the while checking wide-eyed for onlookers, like he was cornered prey.

“Do you… are you right? Are you good? You ASS?” He asked in his lowest voice, trying to not let the panic creep through. Oh god, what if someone did see? What would they think? What HAVE they been thinking all this time while he’s been such an idiot?  
“Look, I don’t know what you’re going on about,” Argo started, “ but can you…let go of me? This is actually…kinda painful.” He winced as the sparks grew stronger, some touching his semi-wet skin and conducting across his body.  
Fitzroy frowned, and tried to calm himself enough to let his hand actually do his bidding and detach from Argo. Eventually he managed to let him go, but not after a good minute of focus- wild magic was hard to control, but even more so while he was in distress.  
Relieved at finally being un-tasered, Argo crouched on the ground at Fitz’s feet. “So do you…wanna tell me what that was about?”

“Just an embarrassing faux pas,” Fitzroy straightened himself up, a tinge of white still in his pupils. “It seems that I …did not pick up the correct social cues while at Clyde N-“  
“Yeah, yeah, your knight knight knight knight school, I get it,” Argo interrupted. “I don’t get what youre on about but when you build up a tradition its kinda…hurtful to uhhhhhh break it, ya know? And I’m not saying I was…uh.. well….” He trailed off, looking away. Words weren’t Argo’s strong suit, but he knew that what he was saying was possibly what some would call embarrassing.  
“TRADI-“ Fitzroy spluttered. “I’m sorry?”  
“Well if ya do something over and over again it becomes tradition, yeah? Like my mom and the hardtack…”  
“Wh-“  
“Well. Ya know I just………thought maybe it was just some weird greeting you half elves have and if you weren’t going to do it maybe I’d done something wrong? Or I didn’t understand how it worked and the initiator was supposed to trade off? I knew it wasn’t a normal greeting because nobody does that in any of the social circles I’ve seen but you do it with everyone so… “  
Realising that he was rambling on again, Argo looked up at Fitzroy. His expression was one of mild shock and awe mixed with a frown, but more importantly, his face was beet red.

“You…. Ok. ok ok. So MY little faux pas was somehow obvious to you but you let it go because your dumb brain thought it was normal for HALF ELVES?”  
“Fitz, I-“  
“You realise that because you DIDN’T TELL ME that, I’ve been MAKING A FOOL OF MYSELF the whole school year AND EVERYONE PROBABLY THINKS IM A FREAK AGAIN?”  
“Fitzroy-“  
“THIS IS MY LAST CHANCE SCHOOL AND I CAN’T GET ANYWHERE IF EVERYBODY FUCKING SHUTS ME OFF AGAIN!”  
Argo was stunned for a second. Not because Fitzroy had used a swear word effectively for one of the only moments in his life, or because Fitz’s magic was jumping out of him again like little pops of lighting, but because Fitzroy had tears in his eyes. Not his usual, petty, crocodile tears, but big ones, dripping down his face like Argo’s hair dripped down his back. Argo frowned. He hadn’t known Fitzroy was this insecure about it- he was sure that the initial incident had been his own fault, and while he had caused this breakdown, he didn’t know about the reasons behind it.

“Wait- wait a second,” Argo got up from the ground and looked Fitzroy in the eye. “are you- do you really think everyone hates ya? That’s not right! You’re a great guy you- you’re fun, and sweet, and, well….look, I’ve never heard anybody complain about the- the thing, I think its….an endearing thing for everyone, and….uh…”  
An awkward silence hung in the air as Argo lost his train of thought, and somewhere from across the school grounds, they could hear the yelling and grunts from a group of heroes and villains doing battle training.  
Eventually Fitzroy managed to recover himself from his crying fit and draw himself back up to his full height (although he was still shorter than Argo).

“Are you….really so sure about that,” he intoned, looking at his feet. “ I- I would have assumed-“  
“Hey, I may not be a firbolg but I wouldn’t lie to ya,” Argo started, then remembered that that was technically a lie, and added hastily: “….about stuff like that.”  
Another moment suspended itself as Fitzroy fiddled with a tear in the seam of his cape, uncomfortably aware of how close Argo was standing, then remembering it was probably because he was trying to hide. He looked up – god, he hated looking up, it made him feel insignificant again, why couldn’t everyone else be shorter- and tried to form a logical response, but all that came out was “I don’t…like you, though.”

Argo considered this for a second. “Okayyyy…..but we’re friends, yeah?” He stopped himself from going any further; he knew that their relationship was more akin to business partners and he had no romantic interest in anybody he worked with- that would be insane, especially if the worst came about- but he did, deep down, wish that they were better friends, despite his secret knowledge of Fitzroy’s past, the obtaining of which probably led to Fitzroy’s apparent discomfort with Argo.  
“Well, yes….I suppose, technically,” Fitzroy said, stepping back to discover he was already standing with his back up against the wall. “Although I would say more…. associates. Well. It’s like, I appreciate you as a person but also you…. I don’t necessarily trust you, and…why am I here? Why am I opening up like this? Oh god. Hold on.” He raised a hand to remove his glasses and put them on his forehead. As he did so, his elbow knocked Argo’s, and Argo felt the shock of electricity jolt through him again and deduced that Fitz must still be anxious.

“Well would ya….would you call the firbolg a friend?” Argo asked cautiously.  
“Well, of course I would, he…..” Fitzroy caught himself and thought about his statement. This was due to his distrust of Argo, sure, but why would he consider the firbolg a friend before Argo? The firbolg just sits around and eats bark half the day, and it takes 30 minutes to get a decent sentence out of him when he’s not switched on. Argo is fun, and alive, and he always seems the most receptive to Fitz’s ideas, or just eager to listen. Why doesn’t he consider him a friend on the same level as the firbolg?  
Aware his ears were turning redder, Fitzroy switched back on. “Well, alright, yes, I would consider you a friend ON THE BASIS that youre actually somewhat capable of holding a conversation. But I still don’t…..like you.”  
Fitz’s closing statement weighed heavy on Argo. What was he insinuating? That he wasn’t…into Argo or just that he didn’t like him as a person? He was fine with the first but the idea that Fitz actually actively disliked him and yet kept him around purely because they had been assigned roommates stung pretty hard. 

“What do ya………mean exactly because I understand and in fact I support it if you mean as in a…..like, sort of way but if ya mean you dislike my personality well I… I don’t think I can do much about that,” Argo said in the calmest voice possible, knowing it would shake if he didn’t keep a tight grasp on himself. Living practically alone on a ship for so long took its toll on his ability to connect with people, and he wanted dearly to be able to make and keep friends. Fitzroy especially, even if he was cold and rude to him at times.  
“I don’t- no!” Fitzroy snapped in irritation. “It’s- that’s- yeah, I don’t like you, you idiot, you’re my sidekick, I – of course I don’t dislike your personality, or I wouldn’t be still standing here having this CONVERSATION!”  
“Okay, okay! No need to yell at me,” Argo said. “I just wanted to…make sure that this wasn’t…I don’t know. I don’t know and I don’t CARE about the whole- I’m just gonna say it- the kissing thing! I think it’s perfectly fine to kiss your friends! And its sweet that you do it! I don’t care if it was a mistake on your part or whatever! I just…. I don’t know, I’m bad at being intimate and someone sh- well at least I thought- showing feelings like that is …brave and…  
“I don’t know what I’m saying- I just think you shouldn’t be ashamed if you didn’t even KNOW until somehow you got told you were doing it wrong, I wasn’t complaining, it….it felt nice to feel like I was loved as a friend.”

Fitzroy stopped dead still. He was sure even his heart stopped for a second. Considering the idea that maybe he hadn’t fucked up (even though socially? He absolutely had) but in fact had managed to inadvertently make someone feel GOOD about something was so foreign to him that it almost sent him back down another spiral, but he composed himself instead. “So…. I …you’re saying I didn’t fuck everything over completely with my social standing at the school,” he asked nervously.  
Argo chuckled. “Well, I can’t say anything for your social standing with everyone else, but… not with me.” He smiled for the first time since this conversation started, which almost caused Fitzroy to start crying again.  
“Oh… ok… I’m sorry. I must just be an idiot.”  
“No, not at all. Like I said, it’s a tradition now.” 

Argo quickly bit the bullet and kissed Fitzroy’s forehead, half expecting to get shocked again, but when he cautiously squinted open an eye and looked down at the half elf, he couldn’t see any sparks of anxiety. In fact, Fitzroy was actually crying again.  
“D- don’t you do it too,” he sniffled, trying so hard to hold in tears that he was almost miming sucking them back inside him (however that’s possible). “You’re not allowed to do it too only I am. That’s my thing.”  
“Do it then,” Argo challenged (why was he taunting Fitzroy? He didn’t know, he just wanted things to go back to normal again).  
“I- FINE,” Fitzroy muttered, and pecked Argo on the lips as quickly as he could (he never felt shame about that before? Why was that). Then he reconsidered, and did it again, just for a little bit longer. Just a fraction. Maybe a tenth of a second.  
Argo grinned, went to cup Fitzroy’s face in his hands, then thought better of it and clapped his shoulder instead. “There we go. Hey, Fitz?”  
“it’s sir…nevermind, go on.”  
“Fitz, I- even if its not… as close as whatever you and Firby have, I- thanks for being my friend.”  
Thanks for demonstrating it, he meant. Hopefully Fitzroy got the message.


End file.
